Police officer forced motorists from road during driver training

COURT: Concerned members of public reported his actions

A Tayside police officer forced motorists from the road as he blindly overtook on country roads during a driving lesson, but still passed his test.

Dundee-based PC Kevin Brown was judged fit to make high speed emergency responses despite the poor judgment that saw him nearly involved in two head-on collisions.

The 31-year-old, who has now been a police officer for two-and-a-half years, said he had been under pressure to overtake slow moving vehicles on the A822 Crieff to Braco road as swiftly as possible.

His rash actions, however, prompted calls to the police by concerned members of the public.

Appearing at Perth Sheriff Court, Brown was fined £320 and given four penalty points but still faces an investigation by Police Scotland’s professional standards department.

The court heard Brown was on the 13th day of a 15-day standard response driving course when he got into difficulty on roads unfamiliar to him in Perthshire.

He was in a vehicle with an instructor and two fellow police learners under instruction to practise overtaking manoeuvres and had two near misses as he attempted to pass a tractor and trailer.

He passed a queue of cars successfully, but found himself alongside the tractor and in the wrong lane as a car approached from around a bend.

Its driver, Alan Finlayson, was forced to brake and move to the near side of the road to avoid a collision.

As Brown continued, he attempted a second overtaking manoeuvre but encountered John Tannahil, again approaching around a bend.

Mr Tannahil had to brake and swerve on to the nearside grass verge to avoid a collision and was left “shaken” by the incident.

The instructor reported Brown’s botched manoeuvres to police witnesses but he was adjudged to have completed the training successfully.

Both Mr Finlayson and Mr Tannahil reported the incidents to the police.

Brown, whose address was given in court as care of Tayside Police Headquarters in West Bell Street, Dundee, initially faced a charge of dangerous driving but pleaded guilty to careless driving on the road between the Middleton/Machanay turn-off and the Orchil Castle turn-off on July 29 last year.

Mr Tannahil had to brake and swerve on to the nearside grass verge to avoid a collision and was left ‘shaken’ by the incident

Kevin Brown arriving at Perth Sheriff Court yesterday.